“We Muslims complain that Islam is being blamed for the actions of a few violent political extremists. How can we then blame all Danish people for the actions of a few cartoonists and their newspaper? How can we blame all Americans for the actions of a few neocons and a deluded preacher? It’s hypocritical! Where is our wisdom?…”
“The Holy Quran uses both rhetoric and reason in a powerful way. It addresses us, the readers, not as passive consumers of information, but as critical and sentient human beings, engaging our intellect and our innate sense of balance, fairness, reason, logic and beauty…”
“Allah wants us to enjoy the fruits of our hard work. He wants us to work hard and to enjoy a nice car and a nice home in a nice neighbourhood. But this should be the by-product of worship, not the main agenda…”
“Beware of the politician who tells you that to make us feel safe over here, we have to make life unbearable for someone else over there. Patriotism is no excuse for foreign invasions driven by Big Oil and the arms industry…”
“We’re constantly on a journey, not just from one place to another in the physical world, but also from one state to another, in the spiritual world.
When we were born, our soul, our Ruuh has travelled from the realm of eternity into the world of time and space. It accompanies our body on this journey through life, and when we die, our Soul will separate from the body and travel again, back to eternity, back to Allah, back to the timeless and space-less dimension whence it began…”
“A Muslim can be Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Egyptian by birth, British by nationality and at the same time be an obedient son, a loving father, a loyal husband and a helpful neighbour. One can be all this at the same time, with no contradictions. The contradictions only exist in someone else’s mind…”
“Here we walk around the geographical centre of Islam, the Kaaba, centre of our Islamic universe. Our tawaaf symbolises effort, action, in a constant, circular motion, centred round a fixed and immovable idea of Unity: Tawheed. Unity of belief, Unity of purpose, even while there’s a diversity of opinions and different starting points…”
“Allah wants us to be constantly mindful of His Mercy, and to express Mercy in our dealings with other people…
